2022 Wildlife figure of the year - CollectA Green Iguana

Dear Friends,

I am excited to inform you that the final poll for the 2022 STS Wildlife Figure of the Year is now open! You have seven days to cast your vote, with the poll closing on February 24th. Remember, you can vote for just one figure, but you can change your vote as long as the poll remains active.

The winner of this poll will join all other category winners on February 25th in the grand final poll.

Your participation in this event is critical in ensuring its continued success for years to come.

Here are the 11 finalists:

African bush elephant - CollectA


African fish eagle - Papo


Fennec fox - Mojö Fun


Green anaconda - Safari Ltd


Green iguana - CollectA


Green tree python - CollectA


Hummingbird - Papo


Philippine eagle - Naturalism


Red panda - Mojö Fun


Slow loris - Schleich


Wombat - Ikimon NTC

I think this poll will be quite exciting and how impressive the wombat got on it despite not being listed in the original post.
Does anyone have a picture of the wombat? This one was shared on forum but I don't even know its source.

After a hesitant start, it seems that the elephant has decided to take the lead of the herd.

would never have bet on the elephant and wombat being so successful.... Very surprised at the poor success of the fish eagle and hummingbird...
It is once again clear that Schleich, in the eyes of experts and beyond the general public of children, is not at its best...

I think the Schleich loris is performing very well. It is not an easy poll. Some of the figures are incredibly realistic like the CollectA green iguana or the Safari anaconda. I think all of these models are really very good but the fact most brands have struggled all these years to present a decent African elephant is contributing to a good performance of the CollectA model.

All these figures are good, but I think the African elephant is a particularly accurate model.

As I said in the woodlands thread, I cannot understand why we are giving so much credit to... an elephant. Even if it were gorgeous and the perfect rendition (which is far to be the case)...
Then we have companies making the same figures all years and we complain about it but apparently is what we want to see!

Hard choice for me between the iguana and anaconda...

According to TAW, it would be the ranking if the most important aspect were how unusual is a species in toy shape:

1st. Hummingbird , we don't know the species but it seems to be unique
2nd. Green tree python
3rd. Slow loris
3rd. African fish eagle
5th. Philippine eagle
6th. Common wombat, if it is one, if not, it would enter the top 3.
7th. Green anaconda
8th. Fennec
9th. Green iguana
10th. Red panda
11th. African bush elephant

I take the point about the elephant. The green anaconda and green iguana deserve more votes, but I suppose some people don't like snakes and other reptiles, even as models, which is a pity, really. I am not quite sure where the distinction lies between a "toy" and a "model", because some could be classified as either? Am I right or wrong about that? Let me know what you think, please, as I still have a lot to learn on the matter.

That's what I like the most about this contest, every year we have the truth of the prizes about who we are: number of votes, nominated figures for the competition, winners by categories and at last the final.
Sometimes the choice goes to a very small bird and sometimes to an elephant or a bison, c'est la vie.
Why more votes for the Elephant than for the Iguana ? Who knows ? This is not necessarily a story of preference for mammals, the question of size also arises, the reptile is larger than the elephant and many collectors are sensitive to this.
In any case, for me, all the suitors deserve to be there since they are the choice of the STS members.
This competition is always full of surprises and that's great.

Six years of contests is perhaps not enough to do "serious" statistics, but it's still interesting to take a look.
By the number of victories in each category, two brands stand out clearly. First of all CollectA, with 17 victories, the brand alone represents 37% of STS animal of the year by category.
the second is Papo who totals 13 victories and therefore a little over 28% of the STS animal of the year by category.
These two brands together represent 65% of wins.
The third is far behind and it is Kitan Club with 4 victories.
Mojo and Kaiyodo share 4th place with 3 wins each.
Rebor and Safari Ltd get 6th place with 2 wins each.
Good last, Bullyland and Schleich have obtained only one victory each since the start.
It's funny to see that it's the brand with the most posts on STS and the one with the fewest posts among what are still called "the Majors" that have the lowest score.
If we look at the Finals, Papo takes the lead with 4 out of 6 wins, followed by Mojo and CollectA with one win each.
That's STS.

Those rankings are very interesting. Likely Eofauna will join the list but it is not decided yet. WIA is close but a repainted CollectA horse is leading. I also don't know if WIA is listed as REBOR, I suppose it is not.
About birds and elephants, this single win from Bullyland was last year when the Military macaw, a bird, defeated the Mojö Fun elephant, so there's no rule.
Schleich win was in 2013 with the longhorn which got the 2013 Farm figure of the year award.

Hanno wrote:

I take the point about the elephant. The green anaconda and green iguana deserve more votes, but I suppose some people don't like snakes and other reptiles, even as models, which is a pity, really. I am not quite sure where the distinction lies between a "toy" and a "model", because some could be classified as either? Am I right or wrong about that? Let me know what you think, please, as I still have a lot to learn on the matter.

As long as a figure is tested as safe for a children, it is a toy even if it is extremly realistic as it is the CollectA green iguana. The most realistic in this poll in my opinion. It is targeted to 3 years or more. Is it a model? Sure it is. I still think too much in my own language when using these concepts so maybe an English native speaking person could have a different opinion.
Let me give you an example, Castagna dogs are very popular collectibles, they're made of a polyurethane resin and they're basically figures for collectors. If the same figures are made of alabaster or any kind of ceramics, it is never a toy regardless of the accuracy of the model.
Those same dog sculpts were used by editorials but made of a cheaper material, a polyresin, they're not toys but the editorials know children will love them so they use a durable material instead of ceramic. Though, those are also not toys. I see the same molds sometimes being sold by New-Ray, Chap Mei, Toy Major or similar manufacturers of pvc figures. Those are toys but they're also models and being collectibles or not it only depends of us.
Though, even material is not decisive because if a polyurethane resin follows the safety guidelines for children handling, it can be used for a toy and it actually is used to those action figures that require a resistent material.
In the same way, not all figures made of pvc are toys, a maker can decide to use pvc for a scuulpt which is not suitable for children because it has very pointy or breakable parts. It is not a toy anymore even if the material is traditionally used for toy figures.Actually it is quite debated among collectors of prehistoric figures because many of them are not suitable for children, thus they're not toys.

Thank you for that explanation, Roger, I appreciate your time, and admire your wide knowledge of the subject!

Roger wrote:

As long as a figure is tested as safe for a children, it is a toy even if it is extremly realistic as it is the CollectA green iguana. The most realistic in this poll in my opinion. It is targeted to 3 years or more. Is it a model? Sure it is. I still think too much in my own language when using these concepts so maybe an English native speaking person could have a different opinion.
Let me give you an example, Castagna dogs are very popular collectibles, they're made of a polyurethane resin and they're basically figures for collectors. If the same figures are made of alabaster or any kind of ceramics, it is never a toy regardless of the accuracy of the model.
Those same dog sculpts were used by editorials but made of a cheaper material, a polyresin, they're not toys but the editorials know children will love them so they use a durable material instead of ceramic. Though, those are also not toys. I see the same molds sometimes being sold by New-Ray, Chap Mei, Toy Major or similar manufacturers of pvc figures. Those are toys  but they're also models and being collectibles or not it only depends of us.
Though, even material is not decisive because if a polyurethane resin follows the safety guidelines for children handling, it can be used for a toy and it actually is used to those action figures that require a resistent material.
In the same way, not all figures made of pvc are toys, a maker can decide to use pvc for a scuulpt which is not suitable for children because it has very pointy or breakable parts. It is not a toy anymore even if the material is traditionally used for toy figures.Actually it is quite debated among collectors of prehistoric figures because many of them are not suitable for children, thus they're not toys.

It is true for the 21th century toys, most 20th century stuff would be denied the status of toys these days, and yet there is no doubt that they are toys.
There are also brands like CBG that have been making solid lead toys since the 19th century, but since the end of World War II these toys are only made for wealthy "very old children".
Finally there are Japanese brands that offer plastic figurines for collectors of all ages. Are these figurines toys? Not less in any case than the Kinder or those cards to stick in the Panini albums which the kids loved to collect when I was young.

Completely true, Christophe! They're actually what we want them to be. I see Eofauna are for age 3 and up and they're clearly models with scientific quality. I have no idea how a iToy Paraceratherium is categorized but the version without base I'm sure it can be easily used as a safe toy unless they use painting with weird chemicals. Also, it is called iToy.
Those from the past show clearly how the border between what is a toy or not is something that cannot be determined with precision.

Oh, what's happening here when there is less than 6 hours to the end?

The first category winner is known! After an exciting fight with the African elephant of the same brand, the CollectA Green Iguana is the great winner for the 2022 STS Wildlife figure of the year!
Tomorrow, after the end of the other categories, this Iguana will join the grand final poll.
Thanks to everyone who voted and turned it possible one more year.
Below the winner and the ranking with 4 figures sharing the 3rd place. Also interesting that every figure got votes.




1st Green Iguana - CollectA 23%
2nd African bush elephant - CollectA 21%
3rd African fish eagle - Papo 8%
3rd Hummingbird - Papo  8%
3rd Green anaconda - Safari Ltd 8%
3rd Slow loris - Schleich  8%
7th Philippine eagle - Naturalism 7%
8th Wombat - Ikimon NTC 6%
9th Fennec fox - Mojö Fun 5%
10th Green tree python - CollectA  2%
10th Red panda - Mojö Fun  2%

Wow I didn't check this in a few days, I was expecting the elephant to win because of its lead but I'm happy to see that the iguana won! I'm excited to see who will join it in the final poll

I changed my vote to a different favourite - when the one I originally went for was so low in the ranking and didn't stand a chance of overtaking, and it was clear the winner would be the elephant or iguana, I picked between which of those two I liked most. I think quite a few people do the same in the final days or hours, so the winner can be swung by those altered votes.

My absolute favorite was the wombat.    But between the two remaining rivals, I much preferred the iguana, so I changed my vote too.

Congrats to the iguana, it looks very detailed and accurate

Congrats to the green iguana, a worthy winner. Nice to see that reptile models can still win, even when they are up against some good mammal models.

Wonderful winner, it really is a beautiful model!